batteries ran down, now it cranks slower...

[GREASE FIRE]

i had a problem where the windshield wiper motor was staying on even with the key turned off - and because the motor does not work anymore it was basically just draining power from the batteries. A friend was using the truck for a couple weeks and i guess he did not hear the quiet sound it was making....
so it eventually ran the batteries till they were totally dead (everstarts bought this past Feb) and i put them on a charger for a long time - about a day and half at least until the green light came on with the charger, indicating the charge was complete. I also had the batteries tested at the local shop, where they were said to be good still.
But, when cranking (and this truck takes a lot of cranking to start) it turns over a lot slower than before this happened.

Any idea what happened? could the batteries have got messed up from this incident? If anyone has ideas on how the get the cranking rpm's back to where they were i would like to hear them.
The only other thing i can think of is that one of the battery cables looks pretty beat up right where it connects to the terminal - the casing is split and the wires inside look kind of corroded. But it is not that bad looking, and the guy at the shop said he has seen a lot worse in trucks that cranked over a lot faster.

Any help appreciated!

thanks,
Paul

 

[Andylad13]

i dont care what anyone says, i have never liked having batteries completely drained and just put on a charger. your batteries probably need to be charged some more from your alternator. keep driving the truck and charging the batteries, and fix any battery drains. at least if the cranking never returns, you get free replacement.

 

[towcat]

*IF* your "friend" was cranking on the starter with low batteries, you will need to replace the starter now. When the volts drop, the amps go up and that burns up the armature in the starter motor. Most people who drive gassers don't understand the need for the motor to "spin" quickly in order to build up compression.

 

[GREASE FIRE]

*IF* your "friend" was cranking on the starter with low batteries, you will need to replace the starter now. When the volts drop, the amps go up and that burns up the armature in the starter motor. Most people who drive gassers don't understand the need for the motor to "spin" quickly in order to build up compression.

that's a good point, and something i never knew - so thanks for pointing that out.
however, when i first bought the truck the batteries were beat and i cranked on it plenty of times (and the starter was almost new) before buying new batteries and it did not hurt the starter. when i put the new batteries in it cranked way faster.
Now, it is slow again (not as bad as with the beat batteries that came with it though) and i don't think my friend cranked on it that much (but i could be wrong of course).

here is the part that really confuses me: sometimes when cranking it will speed up quite a bit, almost to normal; where as other times it stays slow. It was doing this while the batteries were almost worn down (before i realized what was going on) - real slow, grrrr-rrrrrr-rrrrrrr-rrrrrrr then all of a sudden grr-rrr-rr-rr-rr-rr or whatever. Does that point to a starter problem or a bad connection at the starter possibly?

thanks,
Paul

 

[icanfixall]

Yeah... What he said... Low batteries will heat up a starter faster than the wife going off on you because she can. Get a gear reduction starter and bill your friend. This is a $150.00 lesson you just learned... Sorry man....

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

I were you, I wouldn't worry about it; you have Walmart batteries, corroded cables, and weak cranking; nothing money can't fix.

 

[LCAM-01XA]

return batteries for new ones, if you got some warranty left on them.

 

[Papabear]

where do i get my hands on gear reduction starter

 

[LCAM-01XA]

Aren't all Mitsubishi and Nippon-Denso starters the gear-reduction type?

 

[typ4]

DONT LOAN YOUR TRUCK to non diesel owners. Once my neighbor used mine and he had one that was broken ,when I got it back the tires were ground off the rear, he had pulled a stock trailer up a gravel hill with no weight in the truck. Said it only spun a little.
He also blew up one battery , said his didnt ever need glow plugs. just fired right up.. Never again. didnt offer to pay either.rrrrrrrrrrr

 

[GREASE FIRE]

return batteries for new ones, if you got some warranty left on them.

does anyone have experience returning walmart batteries? do they test them out first or just give you new ones? mine are less than a year old and still under warranty. But i don't want to waste my time taking them out of the truck if they are just going to refuse them. Plus, my experience with the battery testers most auto parts stores use is that they are not accurate anyway. I have had places test dead batteries (the ones that came with my truck) and say they were still good.

thanks,
paul

 

[LCAM-01XA]

The one I returned to a Walmart down in Arlington TX they just tested it for voltage and since it read whatever a new one is supposed to read they just refunded me the money - little did they know we used the battery for a power supply in the truck plant's storage facility, and we just recharged it and were careful not to scratch the posts

You may need to run them down tho, so they read "bad" to them.

 

[Agnem]

YES! Abuse Walmart! I love it.

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

I have never had anything but bad experiences with WalMart batteries.

No way would I go to the trouble of swapping them for more WalMart trouble, and I have nothing whatsoever against WalMart; if it weren't for WalMart, Save-A-Lot, and Dollar General Store, my low-budget minimum-wage family would have to go in rags and starve.


That being said, I would use them as cores to swap in toward some GOOD batteries.

I have used nothing but appearance "blems", or "factory seconds" if you prefer, from either Interstate or Superlex, for many many years.


I get Group-31S with a ninety-day replacement warranty for $38 and haven't gotten a bad one yet; they last easily over three years, often much longer; I cannot get any better service from first-line fully warrantied batteries and can buy three blems for about the cost of one first-line battery.

 

[Full Monte]

As Towcat says, the starter runs on a combination of voltage and current, not one or the other. When the voltage drops, the current must go up to compensate. The battery is in charge of voltage. Your cables are the biggest threat to current. Check all your cables for signs of green/white corrosion near the ends. This includes the main cable attached to the starter. If you see corrosion, change the cable or put on new ends at a fresh section of copper. Use grease at all connections to eliminate corrosion. Clean battery terminals with one of those battery terminal cleaners, also the inside of the cable ends.
Treat any grounding cables the same way...brighten them up, make sure they contact bare metal well. If all this fails, get new batteries. If still cranking slow, get a gear reduction starter. Oh...and make sure your cables are the correct size and that some previous owner didn't put in the smaller diameter cables at some time. It takes 600 amps to turn over one of these diesels and you need the original size cables to allow it to do that.